FACTORY HOLIDAYS

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 74, 21 December 1937, Page 12

FACTORY HOLIDAYS

Minister’s Comment On Christmas Closing

REPLY BY EMPLOYERS’ SECRETARY

The following statement was issued yesterday by Mr. T. O. Bishop, secretary of the New Zealand Employees Federation: —

“The comment of the Minister of Labour, Hon. 11. T. Armstrong, upon the, action of certain factory employers in closing down their premises for the Christmas holidays and dispensing with the services of their employees, is by no means to be taken as of general application to the factory employers of New Zealand, and I think it regrettable that such comment should be published in general terms and by inference should reflect upon all employers. “It should be understood that legislation passed by the present Government since the commencement.of 1936 has caused the majority of New Zealand employers a great deal of inconvenience, extra cost, and disorganisation of business. These conditions have been met on the whole very cheerfully and in the best possible spirit. “Individual employers and employers’ organisations have endeavoured to co-operate with the Government and with trade unions, so as to carry on their industries with an absolute minimum amount of friction and to promote that further harmonious cooperation which the Prime Minister has so frequently appealed for. I know of many cases in regard to holiday pay in which employers are giving their workers more than the law requires, and I believe this applies to the great majority of cases. If there are cases in which employers are behaving improperly, no doubt the legal remedies will be applied in due course, but I do deprecate the Minister’s comment being made in such general terms, and I should like to remove from the public mind, the impression which might have been created.”